So far we've covered topics such as identifying a family vision, figuring out what your children want to learn, and decluttering the school area, and now you are ready to get started with planning a school day.
This is our typical homeschool rhythm-
- Morning Personal Care. Get dressed, brush your teeth, clean your room, read your Bible. I give some instruction on this, set children up with a checklist, or in some way remind them to accomplish these important first steps.
- Breakfast. Children think better when they are fed well.
- Morning time. This is when we do the reading section of our Peaceful Press resources. This usually includes Bible reading, a chapter from a literature selection, and a chapter from a science, geography, or history text. We also look at art, read poetry, and review calendar or other core knowledge during morning time. While I read my children would copy sentences from the Peaceful Press student sheets, work on timeline cards, or draw about what I was reading.
- Math. With young children we use a concrete math resources such as Right Start Math. Once they get older (4th grade and up) I transition them to a computer based math such as CTC math or Teaching Textbooks.
- Language Arts-Because there is so much literature included in the Peaceful Press resources as well as copy work, I focus on simple subject specific language arts. For example in the early grades we would do handwriting, phonics and spelling, and once they were in 4th grade we would add grammar or writing (I love resources from IEW) I don't use multiple resources in the same year because it ends up being busy work. If children are hearing and copying from good literature, as well as retelling the stories (narrating) in their own words, they don't need to be doing pages and pages of grammar, spelling, and writing every day. Keep it simple and focus on a few skills at a time.
- Lunch-Another good meal and at least an hour break to read and rest.
- Afternoon Explorations-In the afternoon hours is when we would do any science or history experiments, outdoor play, recipes, or handcrafts. I would often set this up as an independent activity so I could tidy the school area or start dinner, or we would listen to an audiobook while working together.
This covers a typical elementary homeschool day, it's sweet and simple but so effective at facilitating learning and connection.
If your first day of school is coming soon, download this free first day of school sign to celebrate your child and be sure to tag us when you share!
In the next e-mail I'll talk about a few more tips for notebooks, narration, and homeschooling littles.
Let me know what your biggest questions are on these topics, and be sure to grab your Peaceful Press resources at the link below.